1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
Presents commentary in a tabular format for ease of reading.Click to learn more.
| Isaiah 65:1 | They *have sought me that before asked not for me, they have found me that sought me not. I said: Behold me, behold me, to a nation that did not call upon my name. Romans 10:20. | Me. God answers the preceding prayer, and announces the rejection of the synagogue, alluding to the armies which prevailed in the days of the Machabees. --- Not. St. Paul explains this of the conversion of the Gentiles, Romans 10:20. (Calmet) --- It cannot regard the Jews, who are spoken of in the next verse. (Worthington) |
| Isaiah 65:2 | I have spread forth my hands all the day to an unbelieving people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts. | |
| Isaiah 65:3 | A people that continually provoke me to anger before my face: that immolate in gardens, and sacrifice upon bricks. | Gardens, to the impure Venus and Adonis. --- Bricks, to the Manes. (Calmet) --- Tegula porrectis satis est velata coronis Et sparsae fruges parvaque mica salis. (Ovid, Fast. x.) |
| Isaiah 65:4 | That dwell in sepulchres, and sleep in the temple of idols: that eat swine's flesh, and profane broth is in their vessels. | Idols: to have dreams, (Strabo xvi.) and commit impurities. --- Broth of swine's flesh, which was prohibited, Leviticus 11:7. |
| Isaiah 65:5 | That say: Depart from me, come not near me, because thou art unclean: these shall be smoke in my anger, a fire burning all the day. | Unclean. Thus acted the hypocritical Pharisees. --- Smoke. A just punishment of those who had sought the smoke of human applause. |
| Isaiah 65:6 | Behold it is written before me: I will not be silent, but I will render and repay into their bosom, | Bosom: good measure, Luke 6:38. Rewards and punishments will be eternal. |
| Isaiah 65:7 | Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, who have sacrificed upon the mountains, and have reproached me upon the hills; and I will measure back their first work in their bosom. | Hills. Some offered sacrifices to God, others to idols; both unlawfully. (Calmet) |
| Isaiah 65:8 | Thus saith the Lord: As if a grain be found in a cluster, and it be said: Destroy it not, because it is a blessing: so will I do for the sake of my servants, that I may not destroy the whole. | Whole. The good grain is preserved amid the general corruption. (Haydock) --- A few of the Jews were chosen to believe in Christ. |
| Isaiah 65:9 | And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Juda a possessor of my mountains: and my elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. | Mountains of Judea, (Deuteronomy 3:25.) which the captives shall recover, as a figure of those who shall embrace the Christian faith. |
| Isaiah 65:10 | And the plains shall be turned to folds of flocks, and the valley of Achor into a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me. | Plains. Hebrew Sharon, in the land of Basan. --- Achor, near Jericho, called after Achan, (Calmet) who perhaps was more correctly styled Achor, Josue 7:26., and Osee 2:15. (Haydock) |
| Isaiah 65:11 | And you, that have forsaken the Lord, that have forgotten my holy mount, that set a table for fortune, and offer libations upon it. | Fortune. Hebrew, "Gad," the sun, Genesis 30:11. --- Upon it. Symmachus, "without me." Septuagint, "to fortune." Hebrew, "to Meni," the moon, or Queen of heaven, Jeremias 7:18., and 44:17. (Calmet) |
| Isaiah 65:12 | I will number you in the sword, and you shall all fall by slaughter: *because I called, and you did not answer: I spoke, and you did not hear: and you did evil in my eyes, and you have chosen the things that displease me. Proverbs 1:24.; Isaias 66.; Jeremias 7. | Chosen. Free-will is clearly expressed, as rewards are, ver. 13. (Worthington) |
| Isaiah 65:13 | Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: Behold my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry: behold my servants shall drink, and you shall be thirsty. | Servants; Christians, (Calmet) particularly the elect. (Haydock) --- When the Romans approached Jerusalem, the Christians retired to Pella, and had plenty. (Houbigant) |
| Isaiah 65:14 | Behold my servants shall rejoice, and you shall be confounded: behold my servants shall praise for joyfulness of heart, and you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for grief of spirit. | |
| Isaiah 65:15 | And you shall leave your name for an execration to my elect: and the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name. | Execration. They can wish to be preserved from nothing worse. --- Name. The faithful shall be no longer called Jews. (Calmet) --- They shall be hated, while the name of Christian shall point out God's servants. (Worthington) |
| Isaiah 65:16 | In which he that is blessed upon the earth, shall be blessed in God, amen: and he that sweareth in the earth, shall swear by God, amen: because the former distresses are forgotten, and because they are hid from my eyes. | Amen, or "of truth." False gods shall be neglected. They shall not swear by them, as formerly, Sophonias 1:5. --- Christ usually adopted the asseveration, Amen, Amen, to enforce his truths. (Haydock) |
| Isaiah 65:17 | *For behold I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former things shall not be in remembrance, and they shall not come upon the heart. Isaias 66:22.; Apocalypse 21:1. | New earth, in eternity, (Clarius) or here indeed, (2 Peter 3:3., etc.; Houbigant) having purified the former by the general conflagration, which many assert will take place at the end of 6,000 years. (St. Jerome; St. Augustine, etc.) At the return of the captives, the country flourished again under the Machabees; (ver. 18.; Grotius) or rather the gospel changes the face of the earth, Isaias 66:22. (Calmet) (Forerius) --- After the resurrection the qualities, and not the substance, of the world, will be changed. (Worthington) |
| Isaiah 65:18 | But you shall be glad, and rejoice for ever in these things, which I create: for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and the people thereof joy. | |
| Isaiah 65:19 | And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. | |
| Isaiah 65:20 | There shall no more be an infant of days there, nor an old man that shall not fill up his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old, shall be accursed. | Fill up. To die soon was deemed a misfortune, Psalm 54:24., and Exodus 20:12. Virtue is the measure of the Christian's life, and God will reward those who labour even late, Matthew 20:13. --- Accursed. This age will not be spared. Both just and wicked shall be immortal in eternity. (Theodoret) |
| Isaiah 65:21 | And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruits of them. | |
| Isaiah 65:22 | They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of my people, and the works of their hands shall be of long continuance. | A tree. Septuagint, "of the tree of life," Jeremias 18:8. (Calmet) --- Continuance. Hebrew, "My elect shall long enjoy the works," etc. (Haydock) --- They shall not build for others to enjoy. |
| Isaiah 65:23 | My elect shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth in trouble: for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their posterity with them. | In. Hebrew, "for trouble." Chaldean, "death." Septuagint, "malediction." The children shall not be cut off; and baptism shall secure their salvation. |
| Isaiah 65:24 | *And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will hear: as they are yet speaking, I will hear. Psalm 31:5. | |
| Isaiah 65:25 | *The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion and the ox shall eat straw: and dust shall be the serpent's food: they shall not hurt, nor kill in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord. Isaias 31:6. | Straw. People of the most perverse tempers shall become mild by the influence of the gospel, and shall dwell together in perfect concord. (Calmet) --- Food, according to the sentence, Genesis 3:14. (Menochius) --- The devil's power is abridged, Isaias 11:6. (Calmet) --- The proudest Gentiles are converted, and adopt the mild manners of Christians, in fasting and mortification. (Worthington) |